Des Moines’ Pacific Middle School wins $10,000 for teaching kids how to code

Pacific Middle School – located in nearby Des Moines – is the only school in Washington to receive a $10,000 grant from Code.org to buy technology to support computer science learning in the classroom.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 9:50 – 10:30 a.m., State Representative Tina Orwall, as well as representatives from Code.org and Microsoft, will present the $10,000 check to Pacific students during a schoolwide assembly.

After the assembly, Microsoft engineers will visit two science classrooms and teach students how to code.

“With this gift, we will be able to provide students with greater access to technology, ensuring that our students will be on the forefront, not just consuming technology of the future, but creating it,” said Principal Deborah Rumbaugh.

Computer science is among the fastest growing industries in our region. Coding is an essential aspect of computer science, as well as finance, accounting, marketing, social media, and many more professions.

All 675 students at Pacific will also participate in Code.org’s annual Hour of Code event, which is designed to show that anyone can learn the basics of code.

On Thursday, December 11, Pacific students will participate in a one-hour introduction to computer programming during school. The hope is that after spending one hour learning how to code, students will want to keep going.

Hour of Code will take place in classrooms across the country the week of December 8-14. More than 2,200 students in Highline Public Schools will participate.

“We’re excited to have so many schools across the country introduce students to computer science for one hour,” said Hadi Partovi, co-founder and CEO, Code.org. “The Hour of Code is an introduction to computer science, designed to demystify ‘code’ and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, or an innovator.”

Pacific Middle School is located at 22705 24th Ave South in Des Moines.